Stephanie Wasilishin Part 2

0:00This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Shopify. When I started this podcast, I really did have to figure it out all on my own. Scripts, setup, filming schedule, logos. It was and still can be super overwhelming. When you're starting off with something new, it seems like your to-do list grows every day with new tasks. So finding the right tool that not only helps you out but simplifies everything can be such a game changer. For millions of businesses, that tool is Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10 % of all e-commerce in the US.

0:38They help everyone from huge brands like Mattel and Gymshark to brands just getting started. They truly can help in so many ways, like getting started with your own design studio. They have hundreds of ready-to-use templates to help you build a beautiful online store to match your brand's style. And they can help you get the word out like you have a true marketing team behind you. You can easily create email and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling. If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. Turn your big business idea into with Shopify on your side.

1:13Sign up for your$1 per month trial and start selling at shopify.com slash justice. That's shopify.com slash justice. Shopify.com slash justice.

1:29DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse is the one-stop shop for all your footwear needs. With sneakers, boots, and everything in between for every style, mood, and occasion, you'll definitely find shoes that get you at prices that get your budget. DSW has what you need, but more importantly, they have what you didn't even know you wanted. You never know what you'll find at DSW. Find the shoes that get you at prices that get your budget at DSW stores or DSW.com.

2:20Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney, and this is Voices for Justice.

2:31Today I'm bringing you part two of the case of Stephanie Wasolishan. Last week, I outlined Stephanie's living situation in Sedona, Arizona, and we learned a bit about her relationship with her boyfriend, Russell Peterson. We heard from Stephanie's daughter, Nikki, who was there the night her mom died, and I left you in August 1993 with Stephanie's death being ruled a homicide by the medical examiner. So let's dive right back into it. Here's what the medical examiner found. They pointed out that while Stephanie was right-handed, there was no gun residue found on that hand. It was only found on the left.

3:09The residue was found on the palm and webbing. Now, this led the medical examiner to believe that Stephanie may have been in a defensive posture when she was shot, almost like she was pushing the gun away with her left hand when she was shot. It seemed that they had their answer about what happened that night. It was declared a homicide. And of course, after this autopsy was complete, detectives spoke with Russell again. As we've seen before, some elements of Russell's story stay the same and some change. They ask him to go over the events of July 8th again, starting with before he got home from work.

3:46Russell tells detectives that Stephanie called him three times while he was at work, which he thought was odd. He said he could understand her calling once to ask when he was coming home, but he didn't understand why she made the other two calls. He speculates to police that maybe something happened during her conversation with Craig. He goes on to say that Stephanie called Craig back at 11.20pm, which is about the same time Russell got home. He says he wasn't sure why Stephanie called Craig back, and said there was really no reason for her to do so. And according to Nikki, Craig doesn't remember that last phone call at all.

4:21But Russell goes on to say that after he got home, Stephanie told him that he stunk from being at the restaurant all day. Despite this, he was excited for that night because they were supposed to have sex. He even brought home a bottle of wine to celebrate his trip. So Russell says he took a shower, then they sat on the couch and talked for a while while having a few glasses of wine. Then, he says, the next thing he knew, Stephanie got up and went to the bedroom. For some reason, ten seconds later, she comes back out with the gun. She stands about eight feet away from him and says, Russell, I'm going to kill you.

4:54Russell says he looked at her, put his hands up, and said, Wait, Stephanie, what's going on? She shot the gun, and he fell back into the couch thinking he'd been shot. He heard the gun cock, then Stephanie walked back to their bedroom. Now, it's noted in the case file that at this point during the interview, Russell pauses his recollection of events. He stops to tell detectives that he can't forgive Stephanie for wanting to kill him. And he adds that he thinks the shooting was premeditated, because he kept his gun on the second shelf of the closet, underneath clothes and behind something else.

5:29In his interview, he just describes it as a thing. But he does stop to make this point that he feels basically like Stephanie was trying to kill him and that it was premeditated. Then he continues. He says that 30 seconds after Stephanie fired the gun, he got off the couch and walked to the bedroom. When he got to the door, it was three-fourths of the way closed. He opened the door and stepped in. Russell then tells detectives, I don't think there was a struggle. The struggle was my own struggle. I wanted to grab her. I wanted to stop. I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened. I may know it'll come to me.

6:08I never, I don't think ever put my hands on her. End quote. And detectives push. They ask why he didn't think that he put his hands on Stephanie. And he replies, quote, because I saw her fall from a distance. I saw her legs buckle. End quote. He went on to explain that he watched as she went limp, saying that the life was gone from her. Then he adds something new to the story that we haven't heard up to this point. He explains that as Stephanie is falling, she hit her head on the TV knobs, then the table the TV was on, before finally landing on her back. Russell explains to detectives that he knew Stephanie was dead, but he didn't want to accept it.

6:52Detectives ask Russell where the gun holster had been during the shooting. He says he never touched it. They then ask where his younger daughter was, and he said he saw her in the hallway after he turned to get the phone to call 911. At this point, Russell's story has changed quite a bit. During his call to 911, he says he may have shot Stephanie. Now he's saying he was in the doorway when he saw her drop, and he's adding new details like the TV turning on as Stephanie's head hits the knobs. So detectives bring this up to Russell. They want to know why there's so many inconsistencies in his stories.

7:27They also tell him that they tested out his claim that Stephanie shot herself and it just wasn't making sense. They explain that someone with Stephanie's build wouldn't be able to squeeze the trigger and shoot herself in the exact place the gunshot was located. And that the medical examiner believes Stephanie may have been in a defensive posture when she was shot. That she'd likely push the gun with her left hand. They asked Russell to explain how that happened. But Russell said he couldn't. And detectives push even further. They say it appeared that there had been a struggle in the bedroom. They told Russell that they wanted the truth of what really happened on July 8th.

8:06But Russell said that he'd told them the truth, that he'd been more than willing to speak with them. And again, detectives push back, saying that's not true. They remind him that after the first few interviews, Russell had canceled several appointments. They further pointed out that they had bent over backwards to try to prove this claim that Stephanie's death was an accident. But again, the evidence was just not fitting that claim. According to reporting by Justin Lum for Fox 10 Phoenix, Russell did not speak to detectives again following this interview. He never took a polygraph or participated in any official reenactment.

8:43In mid-October, Russell contacted detectives and gave them his current phone number. Now, I can't tell you why the Sedona PD didn't request this directly from the phone company. But at this point, they ask Russell to bring in his July phone statement. They want the call log. And to Russell's credit, he does bring it in the next day. And they find something alarming, another inconsistency with Russell's story. It appears that someone made a call from Russell and Stephanie's home at 1.36am. This call was made to a phone number in Glendale, Arizona and lasted for about one minute. Four minutes later, at 1.40, Russell called 911.

9:22Someone called someone four minutes before 911 was called. Just keep that in your back pocket because I will get back to this later when we have more information. But not long after this, in late October, more than three months after Stephanie's death, detectives meet with the Yavapai County Attorney's Office to discuss preparing charges against Russell. At this time, the Attorney's Office tells these detectives that they need to do maybe a little bit more work. They suggest consulting a psychologist to have them look over Russell's statements, then give an expert opinion. Then, once that opinion was formed, the county attorney would look over everything and consider charges.

10:00But there's no note about whether or not this was ever completed in Stephanie's case file. There was a request that the gun that killed Stephanie be tested, but that request was also withdrawn in November 1993, and no explanation is provided in the report. It's also worth noting that when Nikki would later request her mom's case file, this page was left out of the report, and only later obtained by her Aunt Wendy. By the end of 1993, the county attorney's office officially declined to take the case to a grand jury, citing insufficient evidence. The office said Russell's confusion over the facts could be a result of trauma or wishful thinking.

10:39The attorney's office was approached for a second time, but they again declined to take it any further. After Stephanie's death, both of her girls were placed in a foster home temporarily. Then eventually, Nikki was sent to live with her father, Craig, and her younger sister stayed with Russell. They grew up completely apart, though Nikki does remember that about a year after her mother's death, they finally got to take that trip to Disneyland with their aunt. After reuniting with her sister, Nikki still had those words, Poppy killed mommy, poppy killed mommy, burned in her brain from the night their mother died.

11:14but now her sister was saying something very different. Mommy killed herself. Nikki told me that Russell kept her sister away from her mom's side of the family and they unfortunately didn't have a relationship with each other while growing up and they still don't. From here, Stephanie's case just sits for about 25 years until the Sedona Police Department gets a call from her sister Wendy. This episode of Voices for Justice is brought to you by Quince. I love giving gifts, and Quince really does make that so easy. They have something for everyone, from soft Mongolian cashmere sweaters for$50 that look and feel like designer pieces, silk tops and skirts for dressing up, perfectly cut denim for everyday wear, and outerwear that actually keeps you warm.

12:01And of course, what I love is that every piece is made with premium materials from ethical, trusted factories, and it's all priced far below what other luxury brands charge. I'm still using my older pieces from Quince that I got over a year ago now, and they look brand new. I also recently tried their candles, and I am obsessed. I feel like amazing luxury candles are one of those things that few people will buy for themselves, so that is my go-to gift. I promise you, I'm not just saying it, Quince really does have something for everyone. Find gifts so good, you'll want to keep them with Quince.

12:35Go to quince.com slash justice for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's quince.com slash justice to get free shipping and 365-day returns. quince.com slash justice.

12:58This episode is brought to you by eBay. Before all the algorithm-fed blah and the endless sea of dupes, shopping used to feel more fun. Find that feeling again on eBay. It's not mindless scrolling, it's a fashion pursuit. And when you score that rare Adidas collab or the Dior saddlebag you've been manifesting, it's a rush. eBay has millions of preloved finds from hundreds of brands backed by authenticity guarantee. eBay, things people love. In 2020, detectives from the Sedona Police Department met with Stephanie's sister, Wendy. She told them that she strongly believes Russell is responsible for Stephanie's death.

13:38Basically, this is her formal request that they keep investigating. And they do. Stephanie's case is reinvestigated for the first time since the 90s. And for the first time ever, Stephanie's case began getting some media coverage. One detective spoke with Sedona Red Rock News. He said that after reviewing 400-plus pages of police files, He can't say with 100 % certainty whether or not Stephanie was murdered, but he adds that he can tell that the full story of what happened to Stephanie is not in the police file that he has. Something has been left out. From here, a much larger media outlet, our local Phoenix Fox News station, picks up the case.

14:19And Sergeant Laura Leon from the Sedona PD tells reporter Justin Lum that she would like to speak with Russell, but she says he's refused to talk to them. Now, Nikki says that at this point, she really thought that this reinvestigation and Fox 10 News featuring her mom would be enough to eventually close this case. That surely had just been forgotten after all these years. But that's not what happened. The relationship with the Sona Police Department has been a little bit tumultuous. It's been up and down. When at first I emailed them so excited that somebody was actually looking at it, I like, gosh, thank you so much.

14:57and oh my gosh and blah, blah, blah. And I sent that email out only to be met with your mom's case is really old. It's been reassigned. So already it's been reassigned. I'm talking to a second investigator. He gives me that investigator's contact info. I send out the same. I'm still excited. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I just found out you have my mom's case. This is around Thanksgiving of 2021. And right after Thanksgiving, I get like, this kind of a message. It's like a half a paragraph. Hi, Nikki. I've been meaning to reach out to you and you answered some of the questions I had for you. Mind you, she's been meaning to reach out to me for five months.

15:35Nothing. I had to find her stuff and she's been meaning to ask me questions. Okay. So, but you already answered them. You were asleep and you know nothing. So essentially I sat back and I was like, that was my first communication with the active investigator on my mom's case. And she's telling me that she's got no interest in talking to me. None. Then I realized she didn't want to do nothing. And then I was like, okay, bring it on. I want the case file, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. My mom did not kill herself. You need to look further. I have information. Like I spewed out everything that I knew in that second email.

16:08And it's like, she didn't care. Didn't care. She knew that I had relevant information in 2021. Didn't care. So that's when I requested the case file. I started talking to county records. They told me it was going to take several weeks to redact. and that's when it sat in my email for nine months before I was ready to open it, like ready to tag in. But my point is, is that they wanted no communication with me. They wanted to not interview me, even though I had relevant information about my father, about, you know, her. It's just, it's frustrating because they did not want to talk to me. But eventually Nikki did open that case file.

16:44And before long, like a lot of families, she took the burden to get attention for her mother's case on herself, and she began making YouTube videos. But YouTube is a hard platform to break into, and she didn't see a lot of traction. Then, our former co-worker Brett reached out to her and told her to try TikTok. He said that he'd seen me have a lot of success trying to get the word out about my sister, and she should reach out to me too. So, Nikki and I reconnected after nearly a decade after we'd last seen each other. I know, it's a twist. I know Nikki and I have for quite some time. I didn't want to tell you that in part one because I just wanted to present the facts.

17:25But now that we're getting into Nikki's journey, it feels more appropriate to talk about it. And the thing is, we didn't know about each other's struggles until just recently. See, Nikki, Brett, and I all worked at a little restaurant chain called TGI Fridays in the mid-2000s. But Nikki and I never knew each other's stories. At that time, we were both running from the harsh reality that our loved ones were gone. I ran. I ran for a long time from this. And you probably the same way. You probably didn't want to face it head on until you were ready. And I really wasn't ready until I got the phone call that they were reinvestigating it after 28 years.

18:00And then they did nothing with it. And that's when I realized after 28 and a half years, they were going to do nothing. And I had to face it. So it was like full stop. life. And then that's when I found out through a friend of ours, Brett, told not only do I have reporters mention your name and they brought up Sarah Turney and TikTok. And I was like, as soon as they mentioned TikTok, I was like too good for it. But it wasn't until Brett Packard was like, you need to talk to Sarah Turney. And that's what he told me what you had done since we saw each other last. I sat on YouTube and Googled you and spent like an hour down the rabbit hole with you and Alyssa's story.

18:34And I couldn't believe it. And I was like, I want to cry. After this, Nikki started a TikTok account to advocate for her mom and spread the word. She also documented her investigation into the case by posting nearly every single day. She's gone pretty viral. You might know her videos because they start with, Hi, I'm the daughter of a murdered woman. Now, Nikki found out a lot while looking into her mom's case. She discovers that her maternal grandmother and her Aunt Wendy had their suspicions of Russell from the beginning. and they kept every official document they could about the case and kept notes.

19:07She also realized that while the Sedona Red Rock News obtained around 400 pages of her mother's case file, her grandmother and aunt had closer to 200 and when she requested the file, she got even less. While the Sedona PD never released the phone records from that night to her, they were in her family's older file and this is when she sees it, that Russell had made another phone call that night before he called 911, and through comparing phone numbers in the case file, she realizes that Russell called his father. Now, unfortunately, this is not addressed in the case file I have for Stephanie. There's no interview with Russell's father to clarify what was discussed in this call, if anything.

19:48Nikki also realizes that while the handgun and holster were examined for latent prints, the lab wasn't able to make an identification to anyone. Not Russell or Stephanie. And here is one of the most frustrating things about this case in my opinion. While her mother's hands were tested for the gunshot residue, Russell's never were. Clearly a huge missed opportunity for this case that definitely could have cleared up at least whether or not there was a struggle for the gun that night. Which seems to be the biggest point of contention in this case. Now of course, in addition to reviewing official documents, And Snicky began just talking to people, asking around about what they remembered after all this time.

20:32And she was eventually connected to one of Russell's ex-wives who had a lot to say. For her privacy, I have redacted her name. So immediately after my mom's demise, he'll get hooked up with another woman. Her name is... He and... He will get married. This lady will become my sister's stepmom and will become a very important part of my sister's life for the next 10 years. so that important phone call 10 years you know when my sister wanted to find me she was at house so that's where I drove down to go see my sister for the first time in 10 years was at her house this lady let her reach out to her mother's family so as I'm like reconnecting with my sister over that you know couple months I'm also building a relationship with I'm talking about my mom and what happened she's letting me know how horrible Russell was he was a drunk they got divorced and she's also telling me that Russell will admit what he did to her.

21:24He will tell that he takes a shower before he calls 911, starts laundry before he calls 911. There's something else that he did. He did like three things before he calls 911. Of course, Nikki went to the Sedona PD with this information, but they eventually said it's just hearsay and nothing that they can really use. One thing that really stuck out to me in this case was something Stephanie's childhood best friend Lori told me. Now, for context, Lori knew Stephanie very, very well. She told me about a lot of Stephanie's struggles growing up. Life wasn't easy for Stephanie. She and Lori first met in their early teens and were inseparable.

22:04A few years later, Stephanie got pregnant. She wanted to keep the baby, but ultimately was sent to Chicago where the baby was put up for adoption. Lori told me that this was just devastating for Stephanie, and she often talked about the type a mom she wanted to be, the life she wanted to give her children. I spoke with Lori for over an hour. She told me stories about Stephanie standing up for her friends. In high school, her friend had accepted a class ring from a guy who ended up, in Lori's words, getting too handsy with her. This friend asked Stephanie to give back the ring for her. And Stephanie did.

22:40She threw the ring back at him, punched him in the stomach, and then kicked him in the privates before screaming that he should pick on someone his own size next time. In Stephanie's case file, there's a lot of talk about how aggressive she was, raunchy in the way that she spoke, so getting this context was really helpful for me. We grew up in the same areas, albeit about 30 years apart, but I really feel like this helped me to better understand her. Really, she felt a lot like me, like my sister, growing up way too fast in the not best parts of Phoenix, cruising the streets with friends and being tough as it was necessary.

23:18People who know me intimately know that when I'm feeling very upset or aggressive, I call it my West Phoenix coming out. Growing up here, largely without parental supervision, just toughens you up in a way that's hard to describe. You really have to know how to hold your own in situations, and it seems like Stephanie certainly did. And anyone who grows up in Phoenix can also tell you that there are a lot of guns here. It's an open carry state, so really, they're everywhere. Seeing someone with multiple guns on their hip in the grocery store isn't uncommon. And it seems that like many people in this state, myself included, growing up with guns touted like some new accessory instead of a machine designed to kill, she had a strong respect for guns that made her want to stay away.

24:02In short, when you know what a gun can do, you respect it. Lori told me that she, her husband, and Craig would sometimes go out shooting, but Stephanie would never tag along. In fact, she didn't want to be anywhere near guns, especially while her kids were around. Please note that Lori calls Stephanie by her nickname of Stacy. One time, my husband borrowed a shotgun, and I think it was like a Desert Eagle.357 or Craig's. He was going hunting, and he had gotten back from a trip, and Stacy had come over one night, and I said, hey, take these things, get them out of my house. You know, they're unloaded.